Henderson: Turning the drain into a park is still viable, says expert

The top Grand Marais Drain expert says the plan to transform it into a linear park remains technically viable and was not compromised by that massive rainstorm last August that flooded thousands of city basements.

The top Grand Marais Drain expert says the plan to transform it into a linear park remains technically viable and was not compromised by that massive rainstorm last August that flooded thousands of city basements.

Krutsch, a likeable straight-talker who has studied the Grand Marais drainage course off and on for nearly three decades, took strenuous exception to the column’s claim (my hyperbolic indulgence) that the drain was “filled almost to the brim” following the storm and, quoting Coun. Fred Francis, that the data underpinning the park proposal was no longer relevant.

For starters, said Krutsch, the concrete drain between the Herb Gray Parkway and Dougall Avenue was nowhere close to full. His personal observations that day, backed by technical data, indicate the drain was carrying between 60 and 65 per cent of capacity at its peak.

Krutsch said the widespread basement flooding north and south of the drain was a result of local sewer and drainage systems becoming overwhelmed by the downpour and had nothing to do with the way the drain performed.

“Water levels in the drain did not rise significantly above the middle panel of the concrete lining, which is consistent with what the city was presented in the past. The past representations are still accurate, and are still relevant,” said Krutsch. “That central section (Dougall to the Parkway) has a ridiculously high design capacity.”

He conceded many Windsor residents, unfamiliar with the drain’s design, concluded that day that it was full. “I respect that to a layman it looks full. You see water over the majority of the corridor and it looks full. It’s not. It’s never been close to full.” Krutsch said there’s a depth-perception issue, especially peering down from the Dougall Avenue bridge, that creates what amounts to an illusion.

Krutsch said the widespread belief that the drain, built to handle a storm the size of Hurricane Hazel, which devastated the Toronto area in 1954, contributed to South Windsor basement flooding last year is simply not factual. “That drain did not have a measurable affect on how local sewers functioned.”

The linear park plan, said Krutsch, could create a six-metre-wide naturalized space, protected by retaining walls, for bike and walking trails on either side of the drain while having zero impact on its hydraulic function. “It would have had no effect on the flow in the channel. No effect whatsoever.”

Krutsch said he’s “not married to this project by any means. I did a study because the city asked me to,” and if the city has other priorities, including road and sewer work, so be it. What he resents, he said, is seeing it portrayed, through misinformation, as not feasible.

City engineer Mark Winterton said Krutsch is the recognized Grand Marais Drain authority and he supports his conclusions regarding its performance during the storm and agrees the linear park remains “do-able.”

The issue is priorities, said Winterton. He said the sewer master plan, with an update report coming to council in late March, could produce relatively easy “early wins” to help alleviate flooding this year but major recommendations in 2019 could involve big capital expenses like upgraded pumping stations or additional retention ponds.

“I don’t think (the linear park) is a dead project. It’s just not a higher priority given the priorities through the sewer master plan,” said Winterton. In other words, it’s gone to the back of what could be a very long queue.

Mind you, if the project has lost the support of its most ardent political backer in Francis, who remains deeply skeptical of its post-storm viability, insisting he would need fresh technical proof, then it’s as good as dead.

I get it. This is an election year and no politician with hundreds of unhappy flood-jittery homeowners in his ward wants to be seen chasing a dream, no matter how worthy, when people are screaming for practical fixes.

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